Minor things that bother you

[SSOWorld]

With that said, I also agree with my mom, who has complained that on occasion she's been in a largely empty movie theater with assigned seating and someone else insists on sitting right next to her because that's the assigned seat. If the show is about to begin and the theater is 85% empty (my mom likes weekday matinees), there's no reason to worry about seat assignments.

If all seats are the same price, I agree with your Mom.  But it bothers me when I pay a premium price for a better seat (at a symphony concert, for instance) and somebody with a lower-priced ticket for a less-desirable seat takes one in my section.

My wife and I once bought round-trip business-class tickets on the Amtrak Wolverine train.  On the late return trip back home, it was only us and maybe one other person in the business-class section.  At one point someone wandered in and took a seat.  It wasn't long before the conductor tossed him back out, and that did my heart good.

New minor thing:  spam of this form:

Jonathan,

Hope all is well.

We previously spoke regarding questions about how our services would align with your company's goals.

We didn't move forward at the time, but I have a note that you would be open to another conversation if considerable changes were made on our end.  Economic and compliance changes from the last few years demanded that we make changes to our pricing structure, partnerships, participation requirements, providers, etc. and I wanted to at least make you aware of them and see if we may align better in the future.

Do you have a few minutes to reconnect and share updates on Thursday afternoon?

Best,

Of course I've never spoken with the individual in question.  This ticked me off enough that I almost fired back to excoriate the sender for attempting to mislead.

Bothersome and technically misleading, but not any worse than "we've been trying to contact you about your vehicle's extended warranty."  No, you haven't, this is your first call unless I was on your robolist earlier.

I got one of those scam letters in the mail for a car I bought one week prior

[Scott5114]

With that said, I also agree with my mom, who has complained that on occasion she's been in a largely empty movie theater with assigned seating and someone else insists on sitting right next to her because that's the assigned seat. If the show is about to begin and the theater is 85% empty (my mom likes weekday matinees), there's no reason to worry about seat assignments.

If all seats are the same price, I agree with your Mom.  But it bothers me when I pay a premium price for a better seat (at a symphony concert, for instance) and somebody with a lower-priced ticket for a less-desirable seat takes one in my section.

My wife and I once bought round-trip business-class tickets on the Amtrak Wolverine train.  On the late return trip back home, it was only us and maybe one other person in the business-class section.  At one point someone wandered in and took a seat.  It wasn't long before the conductor tossed him back out, and that did my heart good.

Yes, absolutely, I agree with you completely on that. I was thinking of it in the movie context because that's what she mentioned and, other than the premium auditorium (Regal calls it "RPX" ), I can't say I've seen price-differentiated seating at movies. Sports, Broadway type shows, trains/planes, sure (I'll probably use an upgrade coupon to get into first class on the southbound Acela tomorrow).

I would submit any annoyance should be directed toward the theater management, not the other patrons–after all there is no scarcity in an undersold theater that would justify a higher price tier for nicer seats.

Suppose there's a theater with 50 nice seats and 50 cheap seats. If close to 100 people want to see the movie, it's justified to upcharge for the nice seats–all 100 patrons cannot sit in the nice seats, so those willing to pay more should get them. And obviously, if you paid for a nice seat and you can't sit in it because someone snuck up from the cheap seats, that's a problem because you're not getting what you paid for. But if it's a matinee where only 14 people are there, all 14 people can sit in the nice seats, so there's really no reason to require patrons pay a higher price to sit in them. It's sleazy to upcharge people in that situation.

[mgk920]

A couple of months ago, my car was written off by the insurance companies after it was in a multi-vehicle chain reaction crash while waiting for a local sop-and-go light to change (someone drove into the back of the line at a fairly high rate of speed, I was the 3rd of 4th in that line), but to date I have only received one mailing from an ambulence-chasing lawyer.     Yes, I did get a very good settlement on my claim. 

Mike

[roadman65]

When the sign above the register in Walmart  says "10 items or less " and a customer with a full shopping cart uses that lane with the cashier not sending them to the other open registers, but waiting on their more than 10 items to check out. Then you complain to that employee for not enforcing rules with them saying " Nothin I can do. Customer is always right."

[frankenroad]

I don't get why schools like to go back in the middle of summer in early August as opposed to after Labor Day. Even here in Pennsylvania, schools which traditionally started after Labor Day are starting to go back in late August now.  I feel with the earlier start times, schools are cutting summer short. I was wondering if there is a good reason schools are pushing to start earlier every year, the only one I was thinking of is to get out earlier in June.

When I was growing up in Ohio, school always started after Labor Day, and ended around the 8th of June.  But now, it starts mid-August and ends before Memorial Day.  Most schools around here started last week, but now many of the older buildings have had to close or revert to remote learning because they are not air-conditioned, and we are experiencing very hot weather this week. 

[kkt]

When the sign above the register in Walmart  says "10 items or less " and a customer with a full shopping cart uses that lane with the cashier not sending them to the other open registers, but waiting on their more than 10 items to check out. Then you complain to that employee for not enforcing rules with them saying " Nothin I can do. Customer is always right."

"Then I am ALSO always right, and I say send them to another line."

[formulanone]

When the sign above the register in Walmart  says "10 items or less " and a customer with a full shopping cart uses that lane with the cashier not sending them to the other open registers, but waiting on their more than 10 items to check out. Then you complain to that employee for not enforcing rules with them saying " Nothin I can do. Customer is always right."

"Then I am ALSO always right, and I say send them to another line."

When I cashiered years ago at the grocery store, I don't think I ever had any pushback from customers if I gently reminded them they were in the 10 Items or Less line, and they had far too many items. But I also didn't bother nagging customers for doing so if they had 14 times, unless they also worked there.

I'd usually let people go through with 15-20 items if there wasn't much of a line. Our policy was also to take care of a customer if the other lines were packed and nobody else was in the express line. As long as they didn't have a full cart, since there wasn't as much room for many scanned items...only about a third of the downstream space from the scanner. Or if they bought like 60 of the same item, which rings up very quickly.

[1995hoo]

When the sign above the register in Walmart  says "10 items or less " and a customer with a full shopping cart uses that lane with the cashier not sending them to the other open registers, but waiting on their more than 10 items to check out. Then you complain to that employee for not enforcing rules with them saying " Nothin I can do. Customer is always right."

Signs that say "10 items or less" bother me. It should be "10 items or fewer."

[7/8]

Signs that say "10 items or less" bother me. It should be "10 items or fewer."

People that are bothered by this bother me.

But honestly, I would have no complaints if the word "fewer" disappeared from the English language.

[roadman65]

Since self checkouts entered the scenes, Walmart seemed to have phased out the 10 item or less lane altogether.

Another thing that bothers me not related to check outs is when you start to type a word and it suddenly appears in the box above. However as you notice it your finger is moving to type the next letter which changes the word you need instantly. Meanwhile you're ready to tap on the suggested word and just as you do it, the next word is there already and before you know it that word is in your typed sentence.

I realize it's not the program, but whatever issues my mind has as I do have focus issues and believe I'm on the spectrum or ADHD or something. So I believe the normal mind don't experience this kind of scenario.

[wanderer2575]

Signs that say "10 items or less" bother me. It should be "10 items or fewer."

Thank you.

I also want to throw a brick at my TV every time a commercial touts a product having "less calories."  And don't get me started on "amount" vs. "number."  Sorry, 7/8.

[1995hoo]

Signs that say "10 items or less" bother me. It should be "10 items or fewer."

People that are bothered by this bother me.

....

Hey, my mother is a retired English teacher, so I've had grammar drummed into me since I was a little kid. (My father was also an English major, though he went into the legal profession instead.) That's not to say I won't disregard some "traditional" grammar rules when I deem it necessary or appropriate, of course, even in formal writing. Sometimes avoiding a split infinitive just makes the sentence too darn awkward. Yes, I know there is a split of authority on whether a split infinitive is "incorrect," but it's one of those things that is prevalent enough that I generally try to avoid doing it in formal writing because I know it will rub some readers the wrong way.

[Bruce]

Since self checkouts entered the scenes, Walmart seemed to have phased out the 10 item or less lane altogether.

They ought to bring back 10 items or less lanes for self checkouts. Seeing people with full carts of groceries slowly using self checkouts is infuriating when I only have 3 items and want to get out of the hellscape that is Walmart.

[1995hoo]

^^^^

Wegmans restricts the self-checkout to 20 items or fewer. I find it depends on which style of self-checkout a store uses. The "scale" style, where there is a somewhat small bagging area with limited space and it detects when you put the item in the bag, more or less necessitates a limit on the number of items. The "conveyor" style, where it passes between sensors on the belt after you scan it, doesn't suffer from the same problem but necessitates some sort of divider system to segregate consecutive customers' purchases. The latter style used to be in use at Giant Food stores in the DC area, but they've replaced them with the "scale" style, probably because the latter allows fitting more checkouts into a smaller area.

[GaryV]

Then there's the camera system, where the computer looks to see if your cart is empty.

The checkout attendant who had to clear our purchases this week (because we put the giant toilet paper package back on the bottom of the cart, rather than filling most of the bagging area) said that sometimes the cameras see a child in the cart seat and won't let checkout proceed until the attendant clears it. Sheesh.

[bm7]

Title capitalization rules. They're confusing and nobody can even decide on exactly what words should or shouldn't be capitalized. It'd be a lot simpler if we just capitalized every word.

[1995hoo]

Title capitalization rules. They're confusing and nobody can even decide on exactly what words should or shouldn't be capitalized. It'd be a lot simpler if we just capitalized every word.

I prefer the current style used by most newspapers of capitalizing just the first word and any proper nouns (so-called "sentence case"). Unnecessary use of capitalization is distracting. There are other ways (quotation marks, italicizing) to denote when you're citing a title.

I really hate the way most online music databases wrongly capitalize every words of song titles. The song's name is "Darkness on the Edge of Town," not "Darkness On The Edge Of Town." (Alphabetizing by first name so that Bruce Springsteen appears under "B" is far more annoying, of course.)

[zachary_amaryllis]

Title capitalization rules. They're confusing and nobody can even decide on exactly what words should or shouldn't be capitalized. It'd be a lot simpler if we just capitalized every word.

or capitalize nothing. equal weight, for equal words.

[hotdogPi]

English puts foreign titles in sentence case, which I have no problem with. Should we change the standard for domestic titles to that?

"15 seconds" bug again. Of note is that someone else posted in a different part of the forum within 15 seconds of my attempt. Maybe that's the issue?

[mgk920]

And IIRC, the capitalization rule in Written German is that every noun is capitalized.  Interesting

Mike

[flan]

I really hate the way most online music databases wrongly capitalize every words of song titles. The song's name is "Darkness on the Edge of Town," not "Darkness On The Edge Of Town." (Alphabetizing by first name so that Bruce Springsteen appears under "B" is far more annoying, of course.)

This is one of the few grammar-related rules that I disagree with. In the past few years I've come to feel that capitalizing every word just looks better. Especially three-word titles where the middle word is 'a'. "What a Feeling" vs. "What A Feeling".

[roadman65]

Titles always have been capitalized I guess to distinguish them as such from common phrases.

I do notice that people capitalize the pronoun him when the "him"  is referring to God, but I think that's to emphasize that God is a superior being and is used to be an attention grabber.

[DTComposer]

And IIRC, the capitalization rule in Written German is that every noun is capitalized.  Interesting

I like the style of A.A. Milne in the Winnie-the-Pooh books, where certain nouns and/or concepts that the author or speaker deems important are capitalized:

"I'm very glad," said Piglet happily, "that I thought of giving you Something to put in a Useful Pot."

"It's a little Anxious," he said to himself, "to be a Very Small Animal Entirely Surrounded by Water. Christopher Robin and Post could escape by Climbing Tress, and Kanga could escape by Jumping, and Owl could escape by Flying, and Eeyore could escape by - by Making a Loud Noise Until Rescued, and here am I, surrounded by water and I can't do anything."

[1995hoo]

I really hate the way most online music databases wrongly capitalize every words of song titles. The song's name is "Darkness on the Edge of Town," not "Darkness On The Edge Of Town." (Alphabetizing by first name so that Bruce Springsteen appears under "B" is far more annoying, of course.)

This is one of the few grammar-related rules that I disagree with. In the past few years I've come to feel that capitalizing every word just looks better. Especially three-word titles where the middle word is 'a'. "What a Feeling" vs. "What A Feeling".

Whereas I think the latter looks absolutely horrible. I would not be at all surprised if it comes from my mom having been an English teacher.

And IIRC, the capitalization rule in Written German is that every noun is capitalized.  Interesting

I like the style of A.A. Milne in the Winnie-the-Pooh books, where certain nouns and/or concepts that the author or speaker deems important are capitalized:

"I'm very glad," said Piglet happily, "that I thought of giving you Something to put in a Useful Pot."

Every once in a great while I do that to a very limited extent, but not in formal business writing. I might say, for example, that something is a Very Big Deal to someone or to a group of people.

[7/8]

(Alphabetizing by first name so that Bruce Springsteen appears under "B" is far more annoying, of course.)

And again we disagree, many years ago, some artists were sorted by last name on my iPod and I switched it to first name.

(I don't think of him as "Springsteen, Bruce", he's "Bruce Springsteen")